Promise
by Adnama C
Summary: I promise, Chihiro, we will meet again.


A/N: This is a re-posted story that I wrote awhile ago under a different pen name on this site. I'm junking that particular account and one of the stories that was on it, but I've salvaged this one.

**DISCLAIMER**: I own nothing. Hayao Miyazaka owns all.

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**Promise  
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He stared out over the green of the land before him, eyes locked onto the spot where he had last seen her before she disappeared from his sight. Before she had released his hand he had forewarned her not to look back, to keep her eyes forward and she would be free of this world, his world, to return to her own. In silence he had watched as each of her steps took her further and further away from him. As her figure grew smaller the urge to call out to her, to beg her to come back, pressed against his thoughts. It was only by sheer strength of will (and keeping his mouth firmly shut) that he managed not to do so.

When she had paused on the crest of the hill he thought that his heart would stop cold in his chest. Two separate feelings washed over him in that moment: hope and fear. The selfish part of him wanted for her to turn her head and look back at him, trapping herself here and with him forever. The second part, the one that wish her all the joy in the world (even if it meant being away from him), had gone cold with dread that she _would_ look back.

In the end she hadn't turned around, though he could see even from where he stood on the stony ledge that to resist the urge to do so had been a struggle. As she had finally taken that last step that would bring her out of his sight, two new conflicting emotions welled up within him. One of the two was an incredible sadness. She was gone from his life for who knew how long, and she had gone without looking back. Though the last part he wouldn't complain about, after all, it had been he that warned her not to do so. The second emotion, joy. He was almost overwhelmingly happy that the girl-child that he had come to feel so very much for had found her way home. He knew that she was happy now, having been reunited with her parents in her own world. While he stood there, just as still as the stone statue to his left, he could easily call up a mental picture of how she would be smiling at the moment. A small smile of his own tipped the corners of his lips upwards.

"Good girl, Chihiro." The words were whispered softly, and as the wind blew them away from him he wondered if they would carry all the way to her ears. Deciding that perhaps they would, he spoke six more, reaffirming his promise made only minutes ago. "I promise, Chihiro, we will meet again."

The entrance to the tunnel loomed before her, looking just the way that she remembered it. Already her parents, no longer the pigs they had once been, had entered into it, calling for her to 'come along!'. The urge to look back, as it had come before as she stood on the hill top, took over her, but she pushed it away. Haku had said not to, and trusting in his words she would not.

Blinking once she continued to gaze into the tunnel that would lead her to her own world. Her home.

"Chihiro! Come on! We need to get moving!" Her father's strong voice called from somewhere within the dark hole, and for the first time she realized that her parents had traveled deep enough within that they were out of sight. Releasing a somewhat surprised gasp...since when had her parents moved so quickly?...she began to follow them in.

Just before she set her first foot into the tunnel a cool breeze blew her hair forward into her face, and she paused. Faintly, so faint as to almost not be caught at all, she heard a familiar voice on the wind. Haku's voice. Her breath caught in her throat as she stood frozen there at the threshold between the worlds, with the dragon's voice whispering in her ear.

"I promise, Chihiro, we will meet again."

When the wind had faded and the words had gone they still echoed in her head. A promise for the future. A smile, unlike the one she had been wearing upon seeing her parents again, blossomed on her face. He would keep his promise, she just knew it.

"I know." She whispered her own response, resisting the urge she had to turn back by starting at a dead run into the tunnel and back towards home.

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A/N: I'm not going to beg for reviews on this, but they would be much appreciated. I would you to know what you all think of this. Also, I would like to know if you would like to see this as a chapter story instead of as a simple stand alone as it is now. Shall I continue on with more chapters, or just keep it like this, short and simple? Reviewers decide.


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